Courtenay Place, Wellington
Encyclopedia
Te Aro
Te Aro is an inner-city suburb of Wellington, New Zealand, 1 km from the centre. It comprises the southern part of the central business district including the majority of the city's entertainment district and covers the mostly flat area of city between The Terrace and Cambridge Terrace at the base...
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Courtenay Place is known for its entertainment and nightlife. Many restaurants are open late and most of the bars stay open until dawn. It contains offices, accommodation, tourist shopping, entertainment, food, art and buskers offering many genres of free performance. Pedestrian traffic is substantial around the clock.
The arts
Every two years Courtenay Place is home to many of the New Zealand International Arts Festival events. The richness of Courtenay Place culture inspires many artists, including photographers, professional and amateur alike.BATS Theatre
Bats Theatre
BATS Theatre is New Zealand's leading venue for the development of new theatre practitioners and plays. Most of the productions at Bats Theatre are New Zealand works...
is New Zealand's leading venue for the development of new theatre practitioners and plays.
Downstage Theatre
Downstage Theatre
The Downstage Theatre is a theatre in Wellington, New Zealand, and the country's longest running professional theatre, established in 1964.The founders at the inaugural meeting in the Wellington Public Library on 15 May 1964 were actors Peter Bland, Tim Elliott and Martyn Sanderson, with...
, founded in 1964, is New Zealand's first professional theatre.
Embassy Theatre The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
movie The Return of the King
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a 2003 epic fantasy-drama film directed by Peter Jackson that is based on the second and third volumes of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings...
had its world premiere at the Embassy Theatre at the head of Courtenay Place. The movies The Two Towers and The Fellowship Of The Ring both had their Australasian premiere at the Embassy (Event Slide Shows). Both events were broadcast live to the world for many hours, involving the movement of record amounts of data by CityLink. The theatre is on the Wellington City Council's heritage list in the District Plan. The New Zealand Historic Places Trust
New Zealand Historic Places Trust
The New Zealand Historic Places Trust is a non-profit trust that advocates for the protection of ancestral sites and heritage buildings in New Zealand...
has recognised its heritage values with Category One registration, indicating a place of 'special or outstanding historical or cultural heritage significance or value'. It was originally known as the 'De Luxe' and was built in 1924. Designed by Llewellyn Williams and constructed of reinforced concrete, it included classical external and internal architectural details. The name changed to the Embassy in 1945. A long list of theatre identities has been associated with the theatre, including William Kemball, who formed the De Luxe Theatre Company in 1923, and Sir Robert Kerridge. Kerry Robins, leaseholder of the Paramount Theatre in Wellington, took over the lease of the Embassy in 1996. It was purchased by the Embassy Theatre Trust in 1997 with financial underwriting of the refurbishment programme by Wellington City Council. Ownership was transferred to the WCC under the terms of the agreement. Embassy Theatre Trust subsidiary Company Financial report: Audit report In October 2005 Wellington film exhibitor Kerry Robins sold the operational management of the Embassy to Village SkyCity Cinemas.
Paramount Theatre, 25 Courtenay Place. The Paramount is the oldest surviving cinema in Wellington, still with its original name. Originally a part of Te Aro beach, in August 1916 the location of the Paramount was purchased by John James Williamson. He arranged for architect James Bennie to design a picture house.
Reading Cinema Complex, 100 Courtenay Place. The $23m complex contains shops, restaurants and a ten-screen multiplex cinema. The 8,000 m² development links Courtenay Place with the waterfront and was designed to complement the existing character of the strip. This project won the 2003 Property Council NZ Entertainment Excellence Award. http://www.ignite-direct.com The site was originally bulldozed in the mid-1980s by Chase Corporation
Chase Corporation
Chase Corporation was a property development company in New Zealand that flourished in the 1980s, became devalued in the 1987 New Zealand stock market collapse, and is now defunct.-History:...
for an unspecified development, but after the company fell victim to the 1987 sharemarket crash
Black Monday (1987)
In finance, Black Monday refers to Monday October 19, 1987, when stock markets around the world crashed, shedding a huge value in a very short time. The crash began in Hong Kong and spread west to Europe, hitting the United States after other markets had already declined by a significant margin...
, the site remained derelict for years until it was purchased by Reading Cinemas.
The Film Archive (Te Anakura Whitiahua) is on the corner of Ghuznee St and Taranaki St, a block from Courtenay Place.
The Opera House
Opera House (Wellington)
The Opera House is a proscenium theatre in Wellington, New Zealand located on Manners Street opposite Te Aro Park. William Pitt, the architect, was based in Melbourne, Australia, and much of the work was overseen by local architect Albert Liddy....
Westpac St James Theatre
St. James Theatre (Wellington)
The St. James Theatre, is a stage theatre located in the heart of New Zealand's capital city, Wellington. The present theatre was designed in 1912 by Australian theatre designer Henry Eli White...
, 83 Courtenay Place. Formerly His Majesty's, the St. James was designed for John Fuller and Sons Ltd by Mr Henry Eli White Architect, structural engineer and contractor. It was the first steel-framed concrete-coated proscenium-arched theatre in the Southern Hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere
The Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...
. The steel frame allowed for an unsupported 80 ft (25 m) span roof structure and also provided good resistance to earthquake damage.
There are two other theatres that sit just outside the Courtenay Place district, Circa Theatre which sits on the waterfront near Te Papa; and Capital E, home of the National Theatre for Children, which is in Civic Square.